Near Miss

I had the biggest near miss of my life yesterday. ‘Near miss’ is normally used as a safety term in manufacturing industry, where it refers to nearly missing an accident that could have led to serious physical harm to an individual (including fatality). Mine was a near train miss (Borivali – Ratlam), but it was still a phenomenal incident.

I am usually lax when it comes to travel – don’t plan too much, never reach a station or airport too early; I just make sure I have the necessary documents and charged wallet & mobile. My father always worries about me (and he did yesterday too), but I am one of the people on right side of Bell Curve who are very lucky when it comes to not missing train or plane. Or as Juedu used to say, “Anything would happen, but a train won’t miss Kumar.”

Bell curve showing that most people (~70%) stay average, whatever it may be - luck, intelligence, money, happiness etc. (graph taken from another blog)

The last near miss was nearly 2 years ago in November 2008, when I returned from Amsterdam for good. I was in Mumbai then too, and left for airport a bit late from my sister’s house in Thane. I reached about 15 mins before flight departure. The Jet Airways staff were kind enough to ask me if it would be OK if I board the next flight to Bangalore. But one of them panicked after she (and I too) realized that I had a business class ticket (thanks to Shell!). So, the record was maintained. That wasn’t bad enough and I needed to learn better, so this real near miss happened yesterday.

My train was scheduled at 7:45 PM from Borivali and I left my sister’s house at Thane (near Hiranandani Estate) at ~ 6:15 PM. They had said earlier that it would take about 40 mins – 1 hour and God only knows what I was thinking when I ignored my sister’s advice to leave the house latest by 5:45 PM. Even after leaving at 6:15 PM, I first went to bus stand with my brother-in-law; not finding a bus there, we started hunting for auto/Meru cabs. I caught one around 6:25 PM and I was haggling for 50 rupees when the guy asked for 250 rupees. Finally, I Okayed and the journey began.

When I was considering missing the train, I felt a very positive feeling in my heart. Many people know that I practice meditation, but many of them do not know that it gifts the practitioner a better sensitivity; mine isn’t great, but this was one time, when I felt that very positive, breeze type feeling and I knew I would make it.

After about 15 km of smooth and hassle-free traffic, we came across a 4-5 km of traffic jam. Traffic jams in Mumbai can be totally blocked (unlike Bintulu J) and I should have accounted for that. Anyway, thanks to this gifted auto driver, who didn’t think a second about his auto’s tyres and suspension and took every narrow space available in the left to transcend the traffic jam. He easily saved 15 minutes there. I gave him 50 rupees extra for his selfless effort.

This auto driver dropped me at Dahisar naaka (junction), as his auto isn’t allowed to go beyond. Now this is really stupid. We have made countries, states, cities, and divided the earth, but that isn’t enough. Within Mumbai, autos are restricted to work in specific (reasonably big) areas. The discomfort it causes to the users is undeniable, but they too lose out in the whole business. Someone may want to justify it as protection of interests of auto-drivers of that region, but one should think what my Master beautifully said in one of his speeches, “When you close your door, you aren’t only stopping others from coming in but also locking yourself.”

Any way, right there at the junction, auto drivers ask for horrendous amounts of money (almost 2-3 times the normal), and I was advised by my BIL that I should walk a bit further and take an auto at normal rate. I did so, despite only 25-30 minutes left. I walked and found that most of them were not interested in going to Borivali station as it is near destination. I kept my cool and tried one after other. Finally, one good man let me in.

With traffic and his relaxed driving, I started getting a bit uneasy. I asked him how much time it would take to reach to the station, making sure to sound casual. He said about 20 minutes. Well, now I started to get worried. I asked him to rush as much as possible and he did. I reached Borivali and was half sure that both inter and intra city trains run through the same station (unlike Dadar). I rushed in, couldn’t find platform number on the entrance platform (my BIL had said it mostly comes at platform 4). I asked one guy there whether both inter and intra city trains are accessed through same station. He asked me where did I want to go. Ratlam, I said. He said intercity trains are at platforms 4 or 6 and directed me.

It was already 7:45 PM, so I took his advice and rushed to the bridge. I saw platform 4’s electronic board without any details, so I hurried down. The stairs are so capped from above that I couldn’t see if any train was already parked. As I just set my foot from the last step, I saw my train in motion. Panting, I asked one guy there whether it is leaving or just arriving. He said it is leaving. My heart sank like feet in the marsh. And then I saw the train slowing down. I almost yelled at the guy for giving me wrong info. He apologized and I said not to worry (was he? J). The spirits rose like ether. My coach stopped right in front of me and I boarded. In 2 minutes, the train departed.

For about 5-10 minutes, I sat in my seat, wide-eyed, still not believing what has happened and wondering whether I have boarded the right train. Right it was – 2961. I thanked God for it and wondered how Scott Adams stood against God. Scott Adams, in his book God’s Debris, postulates that what we call as sheer luck that constantly hits some people who are termed as God-blessed are nothing but a small probability or a small percentage of people who are on the right hand side of the Bell Curve. His argument is solid, because prayers aren’t always answered for everyone and only a few have their prayers answered consistently. In my case, however, I preferred to thank God, because the knowledge of success was already instilled. Someone might argue further that that too could be a coincidence, but there is no end to argument.

My lenience is primarily attributed to not spend extra time at station/airport. However, I sacrificed people’s safety, autos and what not to just meet my ends, which could have met more simply. I was not very stressed, but I am sure I grew older faster by some fraction (which we always do under stress), without having to travel at speeds approaching light.

My record stands better than Kareena of Jab We Met,but it is not worth it, so I make a resolution today (not 2012) to start early for my travel such that I can safely reach airport/station at least 1 hr in advance. Time spent in present and lived peacefully/happily is time well spent.